Last fall, with the acquisition of some new Mac 5200s, our school received a few Newton MessagePad 120s. I’ve had the chance to work with one for the past several months and have found it a somewhat useful and interesting application of technology.
The Newton is a full-fledged general purpose computer. It has its own CPU, input and output devices, memory, an operating system, and is capable of running a variety of applications. While it lacks what we might refer to as a removable mass storage device, such as a floppy disk, it does have the capability to move data between itself and a Macintosh over a serial cable included with Macintosh Connection Kit. The Newton is not likely to replace your Mac, or any other computer, but it can function as an extension of the traditional desktop machine.
The Newton has a small 3-by-4 inch monochrome, reflective LCD screen that supports the type of graphics you have come to expect from an Apple product: icons, pop-up menus, a variety of fonts, and point and click input. While I found the screen on this model difficult to see in anything but the best lighting conditions, the newer models have a backlighting feature. The MessagePad also has a small sound-producing device (I hesitate to call is a speaker) that produces audio feedback, much like the sounds heard on a Mac.
User input is accomplished by touching a stylus, a plastic-tipped pencil supplied with the Newton, to the screen. A single tap on an icon launches an application, opens a menu, or performs other functions. The Newton’s big claim to fame is its ability to allow the user to enter data by simply writing on the screen in printed or cursive characters. The Newton then performs its magic by converting the user’s writing into text, using its built-in character recognition system. This new technology, as implemented on this Newton, leaves much to be desired in terms of accuracy.
In the preferences section of the operating system it is possible to teach the Newton about your handwriting style, indicating the style of writing that you will use for each letter of the alphabet, as well as for numerals and punctuation. Then you try a practice activity where the Newton gives you words to write as it attempts to match them to its internal dictionary, showing you the word or words that it thinks you wrote.
I found the built-in character recognition system to be inaccurate and slow. Using the Newton to take notes at a meeting would be impractical unless you turn off the character recognition feature, write on the screen, and print out the raw notes later. It is also possible to go back and do the conversion to typed text later, but this process is cumbersome. Apple must have realized that the handwriting recognition was inadequate as they have included a copy of Graffiti, a third-party product that takes a slightly different approach to this problem.
Graffiti promises, and delivers, 100% accuracy in converting your writing into text. The catch is that you must form your letters using their pre-defined styles. Most of the styles are similar to the familiar upper-case alphabet, with some letters using an abbreviated form. All letters must be made with a continuous stroke, starting from a pre-defined point. I have found it very easy to learn the Graffiti styles and think
that it would be useful in a note-taking situation.
Beyond handwriting recognition, the Newton comes with a variety of applications already built in or supplied on disk. There is a name and address file, a date book and calendar, a calculator, and a time zone calculator with a world map. My Newton came with several software packages from third-party developers, including a list manager (Notion), a database application (File Pad), and a name and list manager (Action Names.)
Of special interest to educators is the Grade Point software. This application permits the entry of student information and their grades for all types of user-defined categories. Setting the program up is not for the teacher who isn't seeking a challenge. You can enter the student names on your Macintosh and download them to the Newton, a nice feature given the difficulty of entering text with a stylus. After setting up the student database, you create a section for each of your classes. Elementary teachers with one class will only need to set up one section while high school teachers will need to set up one for each period. Next, you select which student goes into which section from your student database. This is an exceptionally arduous task and could have been made easier if the software allowed multiple student databases to be created.
You can now set up assignment categories such as labs, projects, quizzes, and homework, attaching point values and due dates. Once this is completed, you are ready to enter the grades, which is done by selecting the class, then the student, followed by the assignment. A small numerical keyboard pops up on the screen, allowing you to tap in the points. You can also enter comments about an assignment such as incomplete, cheated, and excused.
Grade Point will provide the teacher with several types of reports: class reports, student reports, and attendance reports. Reports can be printed directly to an Apple Stylewriter from the Newton, a feature I have not tried. Drivers for other printers are available. You can also export the grades to the Macintosh via a serial cable, for use in any spreadsheet program.
While Grade Point does have the advantage of portability, a feature inherent to all Newton applications, I do not think that I will be switching to it for recording my grades. I currently use Microsoft Excel and find it, or any other spreadsheet, more than adequate for my needs. The interface provided by the spreadsheet is much more straightforward than the layers of menus and screens used in Grade Point. Additionally, Excel provides a higher degree of flexibility, allowing entry of a limitless number of formulas for customizing my grade sheet to meet specific needs.
There are other applications that have found their way onto my Newton. The AMUG’s Newton Page on the Internet (http://www.amug.org/amug_newton.html) has lots of software, some free, some shareware, some commercial demos. The variety is no different from what you might find for a Macintosh except that some applications utilize the specific features of the Newton. For instance, you can install one program that will turn your Newton into a remote control device for your TV and audio system. There are many games available, some of which are of the two-player variety that use the Newton’s infrared connection to transfer the data between the "gamers."
My Newton also came with a fax/modem that is moderately useful. Apple’s goal was to use the mail system on E-World to let Newton users send and receive e-mail. Because E-World has gone the way of many ventures in the world of computers, the Newton as an e-mail terminal is limited. I did download some telecommunications software; however, the lack of VT100 or ANSI terminal emulation prevents me from using it to collect my e-mail. The fax portion of the modem does work great, sending a cover page and most any document that you can view on your Newton screen.
Another somewhat useful feature is the collection of electronic books for the Newton. If you have enough memory, you can carry anything from Sherlock Holmes to the Koran with you. I do not believe that electronics will replace the printed page in the next few years; however, the Newton is certainly as portable as a paperback in most situations.
Overall, the Newton is a really cool piece of technology, although I am not convinced that it is all that practical. It takes too long to input and organize the data that it holds compared to what you can do with a pencil and paper. The lack of a keyboard is frustrating, though one can be purchased from Apple. (Why can’t I use my Mac keyboard on it?!!!!) And, when looking at the cost of a Newton, we are not that far away from some low-end laptop computers that have hard drives, floppies, keyboards, and the software to which we are accustomed.
An Interactive Look at The Manhatten Project by Vince Long
Product Review
Title: "Critical Mass: America’s Race to Build the Atomic Bomb" by Corbis
Platform: Windows (Mac version is available)
Cost: Less than $50
Reviewed by Vince Long
With all of the hoopla surrounding multi-media these days, it is not surprising that CD-ROM titles incorporating graphics, sounds, and video are popping up at the estimated rate of over 10,000 per year. Any time this volume of product is churned out, discerning those with high quality from those that lack it can be a real challenge for the consumer. However, a new standard has been set with the release of "Critical Mass: America’s Race to Build the Atomic Bomb" from Corbis publishing.
Corbis is a privately held corporation started by Bill Gates. Their holdings include their recently acquired Bettman Archives, a collection of over 16 million drawings, artworks, photographs, and other images, including the Matthew Brady collection of Civil War photographs. Armed with this image base, and an extensive staff of talented artists, researchers, and software specialists, Corbis brings the history of America’s Manhattan Project to life in an interactive documentary format. In this rich presentation the user will get as close to interactive television as is available today.
Using a variety of software to assemble this title, including Macromedia Director and SoundEdit 16; Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects; and AutoDesk’s 3D Studio, the user is given a very intuitive interface that lets them jump around the entire content of the CD without ever feeling lost. An unobtrusive menu bar, always available on the left hand side of the screen, activates roll-out buttons that provide quick links to the major topic areas such as biographies, the timeline, tour of the facilities, and reference works. Corbis makes extensive use of the "rollover" cursor which activates visual clues when the cursor is placed on clickable items, a nice effect and one that reduces the number of mouse clicks to the absolute minimum.
Launching the CD presents the user with a motion picture-like opening sequence featuring the first atomic blast, complete with control room dialog. From here there are options to take a guided tour of the CD, see a documentary on the prelude to the building of the bomb, or go directly to the main menu. The documentary option is a 1930s style newsreel covering the scientific and political developments that led to the start of the Manhattan Project. The story is told through photographs, video and a narration reminiscent of an announcer of that time period.
From the Main Menu there are many options:
Features
The Los Alamos Story - This is a 14-minute presentation on the acquisition of the Los Alamos property, securing sources of funding for the project, recruitment of the scientists, daily life at the site, and the team effort involved with the development of new technologies.
Beyond Trinity - An archive of 300 photographs covering the effect that the development of nuclear technology has had on our world. Users can select specific photos to be displayed in an automated presentation with a variety of soundtracks.
Biographies
This section features narrated biographies on Bohr, Oppenheimer, Feynman, and Fermi. The section also includes text-based biographies on nine other scientists such as Einstein, Teller, and Lawrence. This section is rich with pictures and documents and, in some cases, video interviews with the scientist.
Timeline
This timeline approach to the history of nuclear development is one of the easiest sections to use. It is broken down into the categories of Atomic Events, Scientists, Popular Culture, Political History, and Warfare Technology.
The Site
This is one of the best implemented parts of the entire CD. Here the user can take a virtual tour of the Los Alamos facility through a collection of 3D drawings mixed with vintage photographs, sounds, and video.
Reference
Atomic Atlas features a world map and timeline that allows the user to locate civilian and military sites involved in nuclear technology.
Archives contain recently declassified documents and correspondence from the project, copies of leaflets (and their translations) that were dropped over Japanese cities, photographs from other Manhattan Project sites such as Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington.
Science Basics serves as a glossary for the scientific principles related to the project. While some of the items include basic animation, this is the weakest part of the entire CD, lacking depth that would be required in a science curriculum.
This CD-ROM is successful in many ways. It shows that the developers have done their homework covering the social and political aspects of the Manhattan Project, allowing the user to come away with a sense of who the personalities were who made the project successful. While it does lack depth in the areas of detailed explanations of the mathematics and physics that were necessary to successful completion of the design, it makes up for it with an intuitive ease of use not always found in some of today’s other reference works. This title would be appropriate for high school social studies classes or as a library reference tool.
Computers for Families by Pat Crisp
How would you like the chance to use a computer in your home for a month, or more? As you know, a child’s education is strengthened when parents are actively involved in their child’s education. Within this focus, parent involvement is the basis of the Billings Public School’s Title 1 Computers for Families Program. The program, in its second year, provides families with children in the Title 1 elementary schools an opportunity to get involved in family fun and learning with a computer.
Our program started out last year with twenty-four Macintosh LC575 computers to be used in the eight Title 1 elementary schools with the potential of reaching 192 families. Each computer and keyboard is packed and ready to go in a carrying case that holds a large 3-ring binder (for all the software manuals), a CD wallet, all the attachment cords, and - just in case it’s needed - one 3-prong adapter. This year four additional Macintosh LC575’s were added to the program. At the same time, two more elementary schools were added to Title 1 for a total of ten schools and 240 families.
The nine educational software programs such as Spellbound, StoryMation, New MathBlaster Plus, Turbo Math Facts, Mario Teaches Typing, EcoAdventures of the Rainforest (to name a few) have been pre-loaded onto the hard drive and offer parents and children a variety of programs to strengthen language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies skills for the elementary grades. Each computer also includes five CDs: Grolier’s Encyclopedia, World Atlas/U.S. Atlas, The San Diego Zoo’s "The Animals", Community Exploration (great for the K-2 grades), and Earth Explorer. The CD-ROM, "From Alice to Ocean," is available for check-out. For security, FoolProof2.5 is installed on all computers.
The program begins in October. In our first year, each Title 1 elementary school was scheduled for two nights of parent training sessions. Each family (after training) took their computer home for approximately four weeks. This year with the additional of two Title 1 elementary schools and four more computers, two of the Title 1 elementary schools are offered fourteen computers each for one night of parent training per session. Then, each family takes their computer home for approximately five and a half weeks (a cart is available for transporting the computers to the cars after training and upon their return). Selection of the families for the Computer for Families Program is decided at the school level, but in order for a family to checkout a computer, the parent(s) and/or guardian(s), plus their children who are in the Title 1 program, must attend the two-hour training session. Each family is given an Inventory/Responsibility form to fill out which lists all equipment, CDs, and other peripherals that are to be returned by the due date. Additionally, we require two forms of identification.
If you’ve never used a computer, don’t worry! All the basics are covered - from unpacking and setting up the computer, to using all the software, and safety. We even show you how to get all those things back into the case (and in the right place, too). And, for those who get home and have problems that they can’t solve, just give us a call. If it can’t be solved over the phone we do house calls.
So far the program sounds terrific, huh? Well, the hard part begins when the computers are returned. The hard drive and all the programs on each computer is checked (and re-checked) and all files, folders, etc. that have been added to each program are deleted (can you top an additional 210 sounds?). Then comes the cleaning: of the keyboard (fix those sticky keys), the cover on the CPU, the CD and floppy drive (whose baseball card is that? Say, you found a penny where?), all the cords, the mouse (don’t forget inside and out), the 3-ring binder, and CD wallet.
This year, like last year, was a great success with the Title 1 families. It would not have been possible without help from Traci Stenson, my co-worker, and the teachers involved in the Title 1 schools. I’m eager to begin the parent training again next year. So, like I tell the parents: don’t let the opportunity slip you by - get involved in family fun and learning with a computer!
